The Hermit King and Other Stories

Alabama, 1944. America is about to face the atomic bomb the Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement. Billy Malone and Callie Fisque of Hammond, Alabama, are about to grow up in a way no one would wish on them. It starts innocently enough with a trick played on a junk dealer, and with the hypnotic legend of an old one-eyed black hermit living in the swamps across-river from Hammond "Bynymo, Bynymo, hit im in the belly with a fawty-foe!" children shout about the nearly mythical hermit, who supposedly carries a black bullwhip as long as five men. Billy and Callie can't resist ...This novel has been revised by the author, and this edition carries five new stories, including the hilarious Southern Gothic Brother Billy's Eye. In addition, a foreword by Bert Hitchcock places this first novel in perspective of Bill Cobb's work to date.